The Lonely Path to Dawn
by AuthorA97
Summary: Princess Luna goes to see a friend. (Part 11 of '52 Stories, 52 Weeks')(In What Is A Family?verse)


"So I suppose you want to ask me why I left town."

Princess Luna settled down on the hillside, near enough to Raspberry to blow away any pretenses. "The matter does concern me, yes."

Raspberry merely hummed.

The Young Flyers Competition had been a week ago. Princess Luna declined attendance. It was so recent from her return and curse lifting, she wasn't fit for socializing for the ponyfolk. What was unusually was when Raspberry Stardust didn't attend, but her daughter and sister did. For Lilac, Raspberry attended _everything_. The pink unicorn had vanished for a whole week.

Princess Luna had tried to reach her through dreams. Raspberry had either slept without dreaming, or found a way of keeping Princess Luna away. Neither option was easy to swallow.

She was laying down on a blanket. She had been staring up at the stars for ages now. Raspberry reasoned it was since the sun went down.

Princess Luna came up to her side. She did not lower herself to be beside her friend. Instead, she looked up at her night sky.

She had done nothing special with her stars this night. Occasionally she would add a new constellation, or make the stars shine bright. Tonight she had gone for simplicity. The ponies liked whatever she did. Though the only pony to truly notice the difference was Raspberry Stardust.

Princess Luna's friend studied the stars every night. She would try to see where stars had been moved to newer constellations. Occasionally she got them right.

Now Raspberry was just staring to the stars, no focus.

"Friend Raspberry, are you alright?" Princess Luna asked.

Raspberry kept her vacant focus towards the stars. "That's a hard question to answer right now." She answered in a voice Princess Luna would describe as _tired_.

Princess Luna knew the unicorn was prone to melancholy. One too many of the unicorn's dreams had been in a darker world than Equestria.

"Do you ever remember it?" Raspberry asked. "Being up on the moon?"

Princess Luna stiffened. She had vague memories of her time on the moon. There were small moments of clarity, where Nightmare Moon fell away and Princess Luna could see. Those moments were few and far between. Princess Luna did her best to put those memories away. The prolonged solitude, the coldness of space coupled with the silence. It was enough to drive a lesser pony mad.

"Sometimes." Princess Luna decided to answer.

Raspberry hummed. She was silent after that.

So Princess Luna sat in the silence of her night. She looked up at the sky, following Raspberry's eyeline.

Though she did nothing special to this night, the sky was beautiful. The stars all shone brightly. The full moon, void of the Nightmare Moon figure, was a bright beacon to ponies.

"I didn't mean to...go for a week." Raspberry admitted. She spoke in careful tones. Like, if she didn't restrain her voice then it would all come out in some big burst of emotions and Raspberry wouldn't know how to shut it off. "It was...everything just got away from me...I was having a bad day...then it was a bad _week_..." She ran a hoof over her face. "Ugh...it was a nigh- a disaster."

Princess Luna appreciated her not saying 'nightmare'. "What troubled you so?"

"Hard to say." Raspberry huffed. She rubbed a spot on her forehead, near her horn. "Was tired a couple days...jittery on others...sometimes both...on the worst day I was in bed all day. Not sleeping. Just in bed."

"Yes. I had noticed you had little dreams." Princess Luna mentioned.

Raspberry huffed angrily. "Try _no_ dreams. I've gone through bad weeks before. I know better than to have dreams on those nights."

Princess Luna tensed. She wanted to look at her friend, to see in her eyes what Raspberry had meant. Except she knew the last thing Raspberry wanted in this moment was to be witnessed. Princess Luna got enough of being witnessed after her return to Equestria.

She loved her sister. Celestia could just be overbearing at times with her affection. The same for the ponies of Equestria who wanted to meet the new Princess. Princess Luna was getting used to this new time, to the new way of life. Meeting more ponies day after day was draining. Being around ponies at the Night Court was less draining, if only because nopony could stay up that late and it gave Princess Luna time to recharge.

Princess Luna had lashed out on a few ponies when she didn't have enough time for a recharge. It had been horrible. She had locked herself away in her quarters, fearing the worst. _Nightmare Moon was coming back. The ponies hated her. Her sister was so disappointed in her._ It took hours to bring Princess Luna back to her senses, mainly because that was when Celestia could break the spells on Luna's door.

"What dreams would you have that I could not protect you from?" Princess Luna asked.

Raspberry laughed that time. A laugh Princess Luna hadn't heard since the time of Discord. "You don't wanna know, _Princess_."

"Just the opposite, my friend." Luna moved herself to her friend's side. She laid to copy Raspberry, facing her night sky. She could feel Raspberry's suspicion. "I wish to hear of your troubles, ease you of them."

For so long, Princess Luna had nopony to speak with. Her sister had been to involved with the ponies. Starswirl -though wise- was not the most caring soul. The ponies themselves have no love to her. Nopony had listened to Princess Luna's woes. Mayhap if somepony had, Nightmare Moon could have been avoided.

She doubted Raspberry was near that worry. Well nearly doubted. She had seen Raspberry's dreams, seen how cunning the unicorn was in getting Luna to stay in them long after needing to do so. Raspberry _could_ be a threat to Equestria- if abandoned to whatever thoughts vanished her for a week and made her voice so aged.

Luna realized her friend had been too silent. She turned her head to see what was wrong. Raspberry was staring at Luna. Her expression a twist of caution, trepidation, fear, and (dare Luna say it) hope.

"You would listen?" Raspberry asked. Her tone was casual. She made her request with ease, not showing that if Luna did not lobster Raspberry would be crushed.

"As you have I." Luna swore.

Raspberry did not seem anymore convinced. The tension in her joints lesson just so. She moved her face back to the stars, giving Luna one more glance.

"Before I came here." Raspberry began. "My- the ponies I knew, they were... _cruel_. They said I wasn't- wasn't one of them because I am a freak. A monster." The last word was said as a whisper. Raspberry was wise enough to know the power behind that word. "On bad nights, I dream that I am."

"Do you believe them?" Luna voiced.

"There's no logic in nightmares, Luna. I believe whatever my brain makes me see." Raspberry reasoned. "Sometimes I don't stop believing." Then she laughed.

No doubt she'd come up with some clever joke or form of word play that would only amuse herself. Luna didn't like these ' _puns'_.

"I see."

Raspberry snorted. "Do you?"

"Yes. I fear the same." Luna admitted. She didn't not turn her head to Raspberry. The unicorn was not surprised. "Nightmare Moon comes to me as I sleep. Every night. I had helpless to watch as she halts the effort of the Elements to succeed. She uses different means for her success each night. I am powerless to stop her."

Luna found that once she started she couldn't stop. "These dreams haunt my waking day. My sister, though her love for me is strong, is made blind to this. I do not wish to burden her."

"...I dream of killing my sister." Raspberry admitted. "At least lately. Sometimes...recently...it's Lilac too. Those dreams knock me around for a week. Sometimes two."

Luna was horrified. "Raspberry-"

"Don't you _dare_ apologize." Raspberry snapped. "Or I will kick you _hard_."

"I was not."

"Liar."

"...I was sorry for not noticing sooner."

"Oh."

"Yes." Luna turned her head to her friend.

Raspberry was biting her lip now.

"And you are a fool if you believe I will not come see your dreams more." Luna chided. "As odd as they are."

Raspberry grinned, still looking vulnerable. "Oddest you've ever seen?"

"Since my return from banishment."

"That doesn't count." Raspberry laughed. "You've been back, like, four months. What about before, huh? Don't tell me I'm normal compared to _them_."

Okay now Luna was laughing. "Mayhap you are, Raspberry."

"You insult me at my own home?"

"We are not in your home. We are on a hillside away from your home."

"...give me a bit to check my property line. I'm supposed to own this hill."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Are you? Truly?"

Raspberry blinked innocently. Then a wide grin spread on her features. "Are you offering it?"

"Only if you promise to tell me if you have another one of your dark dreams." Luna offered.

Raspberry's grin fell away. In its place was a face akin to Raspberry swallowing a lemon. "Clever."

Luna raised her chin, proud.

Raspberry sighed. She held up a hoof. "...deal."

Luna met her hoof with Raspberry's.


End file.
